VAT returns, EC Sales, Intrastats, direct debits and the Payment Practices Report all come out of the ledgers you already keep in DataFlow. Every posting is captured in a read-only audit trail, and approvals run against authority limits — so what you file is what actually happened.
The nine-box VAT 100 filed straight to HMRC under MTD
A full read-only audit trail across every ledger and user
Authority-limit approval chains before anything is committed
If VAT, statutory reporting and the audit trail are assembled by hand after the fact, every deadline is a scramble and every figure is a leap of faith.
VAT and MTD stress
The nine-box return is stitched together from exports and manual adjustments, then re-keyed to file — and Making Tax Digital means it has to reach HMRC digitally, not on paper.
Audit preparation eats days
When the auditor asks who changed what and when, the answer is spread across people, emails and memory, so pulling the trail together takes days you do not have.
Weak spend controls
Without authority limits, payments and orders go through on trust, and nobody can show that the right person approved a figure before it was committed.
Statutory returns done by hand
Beyond VAT there are EC Sales, Intrastats and the Payment Practices Report, each pulled together from exports by hand, so a return is filed late or missed because nothing ties it to the trading data.
Overview
Compliance that falls out of the ledgers.
File from the same figures you trade on — with the trail to prove them.
VAT periods, the VAT journal and Making Tax Digital filing
VAT periods and the VAT journal built from your ledger postings. The nine-box VAT 100 filed digitally, with the receipt retained for audit.
VAT 100nine-box return filed to HMRC
MTDdigital filing (VAT-only)
EC Sales List and Intrastats declarations
EC Sales List built from the same trading data as the VAT return. Intrastats declarations prepared as separate submissions to HMRC.
EC Saleslist prepared for HMRC
Intrastatsdeclared as a separate submission
BACS/AUDDIS direct debit and the Payment Practices Report
BACS/AUDDIS direct debit for collecting from customers. The UK statutory Payment Practices Report produced from your data.
BACSAUDDIS direct debit collection
StatutoryPayment Practices Report
The read-only audit trail and authority-limit approvals
A full read-only audit trail across financial, customer, supplier and user movement. Authority-limit approval chains and authorisation history on the postings that matter.
Read-onlyaudit trail that cannot be edited
Authoritylimit approval chains
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Works with the rest of DataFlow.
Compliance draws on the ledgers and modules you already run.
Yes. VAT periods and the VAT journal produce the nine-box VAT 100, which files straight to HMRC digitally under Making Tax Digital, and the receipt is retained for audit. Making Tax Digital applies to VAT.
Are EC Sales and Intrastats part of the VAT return?
No. The EC Sales List and Intrastats declarations are prepared as their own separate submissions to HMRC, drawn from the same trading data as the VAT return but filed independently of it.
What is the Payment Practices Report?
It is a UK statutory reporting duty on payment practices and performance. DataFlow produces it from the payment data in your ledgers, alongside BACS/AUDDIS direct debit for collecting from customers.
Can the audit trail be edited?
No. The audit trail is read-only. It records financial, customer, supplier and user movement together with authorisation history, so every figure can be traced back to who did what and when, and nothing can be quietly changed.
